


Wrong Place, Right Time.

by PhoenixDown (SekseeDragoness)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: BAMF!Cloud, BAMF!Sephy, Character Death, Don't copy to another site, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Saving the Saviour, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-30 14:10:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19854817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SekseeDragoness/pseuds/PhoenixDown
Summary: Cloud wasn't meant to be there, but Sephiroth would forever be grateful to his asshole squadmates for sending him in to save the day.





	Wrong Place, Right Time.

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic that has been sitting in the folder for too long and I have now finally gotten around to finishing/editing for Camp NaNo.

Cloud hated his unit. This was the thought that continued to run through his head as he slowly made his way down into the dark depths of ShinRa. It wasn't meant to be his turn to go down there, it was Johnson's turn, but Johnson was a dick.  
A dick who happened to be the size of a freakin Marlboro (he was about as good looking as one too), so when he had said to their Unit leader at the end of the day that "Cloud volunteered to take the report down to the labs today", Cloud's response was to roll his eyes as he grabbed the report, before walking out of the room with a "Yeah, I wouldn't want Johnson to wet his pants down there and give our unit a bad name".  
As the doors closed he had heard a burst of laughter from the rest of the unit before Johnson shouted them down angrily.  
He knew he'd pay for the comment when he got back, (IF he got back. There were too many stories about people disappearing down there for it to be completely untrue) but he was tired, cranky and just generally over their bullshit.  
His unit may have laughed at his comment, but not one of them would raise a hand to stop the beating he was gonna get when he got back. They were a bunch sheep, following the guy they thought was most likely to make it into SOLDIER, because he was the biggest, strongest and most aggressive of the group. They all thought that was what it took to get into the program and they wanted to be on his good side when it happened.  
Cloud was his target either way. Even if he toed the line and followed along blindly, he would still be the small, quiet, foreign kid with the thick accent that 'didn't belong in the program' and 'needed to be put back in his place'. So he had let his frustration out and now, not only did he have to deliver the stupid report, but he would have to endure a beating at the end of it.  
Oh well, maybe he'd end up in med for a few days healing and he could actually get some sleep for once.

The elevators loud chime was not exactly what he thought would be the sound of his impending doom, but it still made him jump and he gave a frustrated sigh as the doors opened and he exited onto the first floor of the department of scientific research.  
He bypassed the reception as it was always empty at this time of the day. Apparently, the receptionist for the department clocked off at five on the dot and was out of the doors before anyone could say a word, and who could blame her.  
He walked through the empty office space, full of dark empty cubicles and headed for the door at the back of the room. It led to a small sterile hallway that reminded him of an empty hospital corridor, then it opened out into a small junction of five more nearly identical hallways, branching away from a workstation situated in the middle. Usually, this was as far as he had to go.  
He would hand the paperwork over to the person manning the station and would get the hell out of dodge while trying to forget the small pained sounds heard echoing from various directions.  
But not tonight. Tonight it was empty and quiet. He couldn't even hear the usual sounds of small creatures whimpering and the whirring of machines that was the normal backdrop to every visit he had ever made down there.  
He stood for a moment pondering what his next move should be. Should he just leave the forms on the counter and go? Should he call out for someone? Should he just get the hell out of there and pretend he had handed the report in and the hell with the consequences?

Cloud sighed. His mother would kick his ass if he did that and leaving the form without witnessing the signature of receipt was just as bad. He was already gonna get his ass beat, he didn't need his superiors riding it as well. He took in a slow deep breath and let it out, before clearing his throat "U-um. Hello? Anyone?" He closed his eyes and cringed at how pathetic and scared he sounded, but when there was no reply, he called out again in a louder and thankfully steadier voice "Hello, is anyone here? I have paperwork I need to hand in"  
Silence was his answer again and that, unfortunately, meant that Cloud was about to do one of the dumbest things he had ever thought to do in his life. He was going to go searching for someone... in the labs.  
He made sure to get his bearings before moving to the first corridor on his left to peer down it. There was nothing significant about it. There were a few doors that appeared to be bathrooms and locker rooms and then another elevator that seemed to only have a down button.  
That was one option he was NOT going to take, so he moved over to the next corridor and immediately felt a shiver run down his spine. He frowned as it didn't seem too different from the last, but this one had some windowed rooms towards the end of the hallway and seemed to turn right at the end. But there was a pulsing green glow lighting up the end of the corridor that made him feel the urge to run and never look back.  
He shook himself and took a decisive turn towards the next entrance. It seemed to be just a series of windowed doors with security locks on them. He shrugged his shoulders, took a deep breath and headed towards the first door. Maybe one of the scientists or lab assistants would be in one of the rooms and could point Cloud in the right direction.  
The first room was pitch black, so Cloud moved down the hall to check the next. It wasn't until he got to the fifth door that he found a room with a light on. It appeared to be a small workroom with metal benchtops covered in beakers and vials and lining the back wall was a series of cages. Most were empty, but some contained small rodents and lizards and a slightly larger one appeared to contain some sort of cat-like creature that was sitting on its hind legs as it glanced over at him, before turning back to its dinner. Cloud turned away from the door and kept telling himself that, no. It was his imagination. The creature's tail hadn't just reared up to look at him, before hissing and going back to eating as well.

He took a moment, considering whether or not to continue when he heard footsteps echoing from the way he had entered, so he turned back towards the junction and hurried to try to follow the sound.  
When he got to the junction, the sound of steps was moving away again and he tried to figure out which way they had gone. He decided it was the last corridor and headed down it, opening his mouth with the intention of calling out to get someone's attention.  
The sound died on his lips as a deep, tortured scream tore through the quiet hallways.  
Cloud stopped dead in his tracks. The sound had been human. He was used to hearing screams of fear from animals, that was disturbing enough, but this scream was definitely not scared and definitely not an animal. It was a man and they were in serious pain.  
His mind was telling him to go back to the station and wait for someone. Forget he had ever heard the sound. But the part of him who had spent his entire childhood being beaten and more often than not, finding himself scared and alone and in pain, and had made him leave his small mountain home to come here to be better, stronger, to help people. That part of himself had him quietly walking down the hallway in search of the sound.

Cloud had followed the corridor around three turns and had heard just as many screams when he started getting close enough to the source that he could hear other sounds. There was the sound of medical machinery beeping and whirring and the sound of footsteps every now and then. Overlaying everything was a constant drone of a voice. He couldn't make it out at first, but as he got closer to what he realized was the end of this series of hallways, the voice became more distinct  
"...es and I told you many times what that sort of arrogance would bring you, but you just wouldn't listen, my boy. Now I have been forced to show you that, even though you may be my greatest experiment to date, you are not immune to everything." The voice let out a sigh as another scream was torn from the poor 'experiment's' throat. "see now, what if your enemy was to develop a concoction such as this?-Not that they could, after all, this is frankly beyond most simple human's ability to create. They aren't smart enough to come up with something strong enough to bypass your natural defenses fast enough to block them from not only healing yourself but at the same time, enhancing the sensitivity of every nerve ending in your body. But for argument's sake, what if they did? How long would you last against this? How long could you keep all of your secret knowledge before breaking?"  
Cloud heard a low rumble of another voice, but it cut off into another scream as the first man started talking again "Well now. That is no way to speak to your creator. Your father. The one who has spent every day of his life for the past 20 years, making sure that you would become the greatest warrior on the planet, now is it? I guess we will just have to test this resistance to pain you think you have, in full, but allow me to add a little extra of this to your system first, shall we?"

As Cloud cautiously peeked around the corner, his fears were realized. The man speaking was Professor Hojo (more commonly known as Professor whackjob to the cadets) and laying naked on a lab table in front of him with his wrists and ankles restrained to each corner, was the General of SOLDIER, Sephiroth.  
As he watched, Hojo leaned over him and injected a murky brown liquid directly into his neck. The professor then watched in satisfaction as the man stiffened on the table, every muscle in his body tensing as he strained against his bonds, trying to get away from the drug flowing through his veins. By the time his body came back down onto the table, he was panting and his body was shaking with the effort.

Cloud felt like he was stuck in a nightmare. Trapped somewhere between a cheesy mad scientist dream and haunted hospital slasher as he looked at the man he admired, covered in bloody wounds, undoubtedly made by the scalpel that the psychotic professor was wielding in his other hand.  
As he watched in horror, the man brought the scalpel up to the Generals armpit and slowly started to cut down the middle of it. The strain of not screaming could be seen on the Silver-haired man's face as he gritted his teeth against the pain and glared pure hatred at the man above him. When the man stopped cutting him, he gulped in a huge breath of air, only to let it out in another scream as the Hojo flicked the knife down to slice into the junction between his hip and his groin.

It was then that the professor started to turn at a sound behind him, before crumpling to the ground with a wheezing breath, while holding his own groin. Cloud stood above him in shock as it fully registered what he had just done. He had just run up behind the Professor, the Director of Scientific Research and had landed a solid kick with his steel-capped boots, to the man's balls.  
"Oh, shit" He looked up at the general with widened eyes "Oh shit!" before looking back down to the man on the ground when he saw movement. He was reaching out for the syringe and Cloud reacted on instinct, by stomping down on his hand over the needle, which shattered. As the Professor screamed, he pulled back and kicked him in the head, knocking him out.  
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Ohhh I am in soooo much shit!" 

Cloud was now, officially panicking.  
He knew he was panicking because he couldn't seem to catch his breath and his heart felt like it was in his throat. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of blood pumping and his vision was getting a distinct haze around the edges.  
But now was NOT the time to panic. Panic would lead to his sorry ass passing out on the floor of the labs and that would lead to him being 'disappeared' by the man he had just knocked unconscious.

Cloud purposely diverted his thoughts from what he had just done as he closed his eyes and focused instead, on what he needed to do.  
The first thing was to take a few deep, deliberate breaths while counting to ten.  
Once his pulse had slowed and his vision was beginning to clear, he decided his next move was to free the General from the restraints holding him to the table.

He walked over and talking much more calmly than he felt, he explained every move he was making. He had no idea what sort of state the General's mind was in and the last thing he wanted to do was to come across to him as any sort of threat. It also helped Cloud to keep his mind on the task at hand "Ok, Sir, I'm just going to undo the cuffs on your wrists, then I'll move on to the ones on your legs"  
As his fingers pulled at the metal clasps that held the restraints closed, he could feel the man's eyes on him. He glanced up to check on him and was met with unfocused green eyes. The cat-slit pupils were uneven, one blown wide, the other constricted and as he watched, they both seemed to pulse, the sizes changing unevenly with every heartbeat.  
The silver-haired man blinked his eyes, seemingly trying to bring Cloud into focus. Cloud finished undoing the cuffs on his hands before heading for the other end of the table to start on the first leg restraint "A-after I get these off, I'll try to find something for you to wear" Cloud did NOT stutter.  
This time he at least got a response, even if it was only in the form of a small grunt. 

The last lock came undone with a metallic clink and Cloud moved off to find where the man's clothing had been stashed.  
After a quick search, he found it stuffed into a small cupboard under a sink in the adjoining bathroom. He collected the pile and walked back out into the exam room "I found your gear, Si-" He definitely DID NOT stumble as he walked back into the room to find his superior sitting up, with his legs swung over the side of the table, looking around unsteadily, while completely oblivious or uncaring about his nudity. Cloud mentally slapped himself and took a deep breath as he walked over the help him. Now was definitely not the time to perve at the poor man.  
He placed the clothing on the table beside him and the boots on the floor before quickly grabbing some gauze to help stem the flow of blood coming from his armpit and groin. The older wounds already seemed to have stopped bleeding, though they hadn't fully healed yet. He placed a small stack of gauze into the General's left hand so that he could deal with the slash on his hip, while Cloud carefully lifted the man's other arm and pressed his own stack against the wound in his armpit. Apologising as the man groaned in pain. 

It took a few minutes for his body to start to process whatever the drug was that Hojo had given him, and for the flow of blood to stop. Once it had, Cloud took a deep breath before looking up at Sephiroth "Um... would you like me to help you get dressed, Sir?" He asked quietly.  
Sephiroth took a moment to focus on the smaller man before he gave a brief if slightly uncertain seeming nod.  
Cloud hesitated "If you'd like, we could just wait until you are more steady on your feet and able to dress yourself, sir?" He didn't want the man to feel uncomfortable and if that meant taking a few minutes to let him get his head together, that was fine. Even if it would mean Cloud might need to knock a bitch out again and get himself a longer list of crimes.  
The man seemed to consider this, before shaking his head "No. I would appreciate the help" How the man was able to sound so put together in this situation, even while slurring slightly was beyond Cloud.  
He accepted the man's answer and started to sort through his gear. He decided it was best to start with the pants, even if they got no further, he would at least be able to walk through the halls with dignity.  
He bent down in front of the General and helped him to get his feet through the leg holes and pulled them up to his knees before trying to stand up to help him get them the rest of the way up his legs. Unfortunately, Sephiroth, being a little unsteady on his feet, had at that moment, decided to use Cloud's back to help straighten himself up, causing Cloud to fall forward a little as he rose.  
As Cloud face planted into the man's soft genitals, he came to the awful conclusion that this was definitely not a dream, he was not going to wake up to the blaring of horns calling them to the days torture and he knew this, because even in the middle of a nightmare, if his face was anywhere near the proximity of the General's crotch, sexy times were coming.  
The fact that the silky smooth flesh that briefly pressed against his face was not in any way sexual, was just typical of Cloud's life and his luck.  
They had both quickly straightened up with an apology on both sides before choosing to pretend it had never happened as Cloud helped him pull the pants up the rest of the way. As the General tucked himself into his pants and gave the wound one last check before zipping up, Cloud worked at untangling the Jacket from his armor guard belts.  
It was as he was pulling it free that he heard the sound of small bits of glass crunching, but before he could turn around, the General had grabbed Cloud around the waist and pulled him against his right side. He felt a rush of movement and heard a sound almost like a whip before he heard a gurgling sound and felt something warm spray across the back of his neck and shoulder.  
There was a thump and then the General had loosened his hold on Cloud before stepping away from him. He was afraid to look, but there was no way to get out of the room without seeing what had just happened and he knew it, so he decided to just get it over with.  
He turned around and Sephiroth was bent over the body of Hojo, who's neck was cut so deeply that it was barely hanging on anymore. Cloud couldn't have stopped his reaction if he had tried, as he turned and emptied the contents of his stomach down the side of the lab table. Once that was done he grabbed handfuls of the spare gauze and started furiously scrubbing at the back of his neck where he could feel the blood dripping down from his hair.  
It wasn't until the General had forcefully grabbed his hands and pulled him to his chest that he realized he was crying and his breathing was soo panicked that he was close to passing out again. As the General held his hands and talked calmly to him, he started to breath more slowly and the world started to come back piece by piece and he could finally hear the words being spoken, not just the intent and calmness behind them.  
"It's ok Cadet. You will not be punished for this in any way. Your name won't even come up in reports, this will be swept under the rug and reported as an unfortunate lab accident. You saved me tonight and I refuse to let the person brave enough to stand up for me, suffer because of it. He was trying to kill you so I stopped him. I'm sorry you had to see it. I really am, but he didn't suffer if it makes it any better. His spinal cord was severed in one go. He wouldn't have even registered the pain, ok?"  
Cloud huffed "It does actually make me feel a little better, even though I also feel like, if anyone deserved a painful death, it was probably him" He was leaning his head against the man's shoulder and felt him shake with what he thought might be laughter.  
"Just because he deserves it, doesn't mean you want to witness it. Nor would I want to be part of it. It would make me just like him" Cloud shook his head, but left it. He took a deep breath and collected himself before moving back a step and wiping his face with his hands.  
"Can we get out of here now, sir?" He asked as he looked up at the man who had just saved his life.  
Sephiroth nodded "I'll just put my boots on and then we can leave"  
Cloud nodded back and then cringed as he turned around "Errr, sorry, sir. I think I may have vomited on your coat"  
Sephiroth looked up from pulling on his second boot, before looking down at his coat crumpled on the floor and definitely showing splashes of regurgitated mess hall foods. He pulled a face and turned back to buckling his boots "Leave it. I'll get a new one"  
Cloud felt awful. Something like that would cost a years wages in Nibelhiem to buy "I could get it professionally washed for you, sir?"  
Sephiroth grunted as he stood up to his full height "It's not necessary. Besides, I'd still never be able to wear it. SOLDIERs sense of smell is enhanced along with everything else. The smell would never completely wash out, even if the average person could never tell. Besides, ShinRa replaces my work uniform, so let them pay for a new one" He smirked at the smaller man.  
Cloud smiled back at him before gathering his pieces of armor to carry for him. He had noticed that the General was still not completely steady on his feet, it was the least he could do.

As they slowly made their way back out of the room and down the winding corridor, Cloud introduced himself properly and explained how he had ended up there in the first place. Including how he wasn't even meant to be the one there that night. The General laughed at his story and said he'd have to 'Thank Cadet Johnson' for being a dick, as it sounded like he was not the sort of person who would have come to his aid had he been the one to have come down to the labs. He also told him to use his first name.  
When they got back to the junction, there was a very confused lab assistant watching them walk towards him "What, Sir, why was a cadet in the restricted labs?"  
"OH, sorry, sir. I came down to get the monster sample reports signed but nobody was here so I went to find someone" Cloud flushed with embarrassment.  
"He found me instead" The General finished in a clipped tone.  
The lab assistant looked away awkwardly "Well then, where is this report you need to be signed, cadet?" He asked Cloud, who was already fumbling to get the pages out of his back pocket.  
When he got them out, he unfolded them and placed them on the counter. His eyes went wide as he noticed that a large patch of Hojo's blood was staining one corner. His gaze met the lab assistants before the man lifted his eyes to meet the General's.  
"You might want to call in a cleanup crew. It appears my 'Dear Father' had an unfortunate accident in his laboratory. No point calling medical, he's quite dead" Sephiroth stated calmly before tapping the page and getting the man to sign the papers.

As they waited for the elevator to arrive Cloud wondered how things were going to change for him. He knew there was no way that this incident would go without consequences, and he knew that when it came down to it, he would be the scapegoat. Something in his demeanor must have alerted the General to his mood because as they stepped into the elevator, the man pulled him in against his side.  
"Listen, I know it's not fair. Things won't be easy for a while. But, I've decided that I'm keeping you. So they are just going to have to suck it up if they want their 'star SOLDIER' to cooperate. I'll keep you safe by using whatever means are necessary, Cloud" He smiled down at the stunned look on the Blond's face.  
"I-I'm y-yours am I?" Cloud stammered, then raised an eyebrow at the taller man.  
"Mmmhmm. You're my little savior, I'm not letting you go now. I have to keep you safe" He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
"But, you saved me too. So, doesn't that make you my big savior?" Cloud laughed a little at the smirk on the general's lips.  
"Hn, true. I guess that means I'm yours too. We'll have to keep each other safe?" Sephiroth glanced sideways at the smaller man, seeing the blush across his cheeks.  
Cloud bit his lip and leaned more into the man's side, before looking up at him and smiling "That sounds like a good deal, Sephiroth"


End file.
